Red moon on Jordan Lake

I've been wanting to get a nice moon shot over Jordan Lake for some time. On Wednesday, the moon was pretty spectacular and one phase short of full; when I saw it, I was pretty bummed because I thought I'd missed my chance.

Even so, I decided to head out to the lake on Thursday night to see what I could get. Moonrise was 8:36 PM. I worried that I would have too little light for a good shot. For all its merits, my camera doesn't do great at high ISO settings, and I really wanted to get the moon shot with some sunlight still lighting the night sky. Sunset was 8:21 or so tonight, so I thought it would be tight.

These sorts of shots are tough, because the window of opportunity is so short. At best, I get a good shot 1 out of 20 attempts, and I had only a few short minutes to make it work (with long exposures limiting how many takes I could get in during that interval). Additionally, it's a tough exposure. When the moon is still low in the sky, you need a pretty long exposure. That's nice because it also lets you catch the trees and lake (even though dark). However, a tripod becomes essential with those 2 and 3 second exposures. And then, as the moon rises and gets brighter, those longer exposures start to cost you some definition.

This shot ended up being my favorite. By the time I took it, it was a little darker than I had wanted for the shot, but I was having tripod issues a few minutes earlier when the light was brighter, and as a result, the moon came out a little blurry on those shots.

Tulips at Duke Gardens

I took this shot at Duke Gardens in Durham, NC one evening in April. At the time, I was really into shots with repeating units, where one unit in the foreground was in focus whereas background units were blurred.

The gardens at Duke are beautiful, particularly in the Spring. There are typically a lot of great photo opportunities on the grounds. However, on this particular day, I wasn't overwhelmed... until I got to these tulips. They were spectacular. I was especially impressed with the texture on the petals themselves.

From the picture album: Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park

Southwest Colorado's Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park is a remarkable place. The nearly-vertical canyon walls drop over 2000 feet to the Gunnison River, providing spectacular views along the length of the 12-mile national park. The view shown here is of Painted Wall (pictured on the right), the sheerest cliff in the park.

I found photography difficult in the park. In general, I find canyons challenging. Until the sun gets high in the sky, shadows complicate one's task. Consequently, I was disappointed with many of the shots I took at Black Canyon of the Gunnison.

Morning on the French Broad

I took this picture last weekend when we were in Asheville, NC.

The French Broad is a beautiful river. It's anything but mighty, but it's got enough rocks and rapids to keep it interesting. The night before Stephanie and I took a 5-mile rafting trip down it. It was a pleasant, albeit very tame, introduction to whitewater for both of us.

Horses near Asheville, NC

This weekend, Stephanie and I went to beautiful Asheville, NC for a few fun days of rafting, riding, and running.

This picture was taken about half a mile from our rental cabin. Ideally, it would be standard dimensions. Unfortunately, I failed to notice a telephone wire running through shot. As a result, I had to crop the photo to eliminate that unsightly line.

From the picture album: Ocracoke Island, NC

I took this shot in August of 2006 at Ocracoke Island, NC with my Olympus C-3000 Zoom camera.

Ocracoke is a magical spot. It's the least developed island on the NC coast "accessible" by car. And even then, I use the word "accessible" loosely, as getting to Ocracoke requires a ferry ride from either the mainland or from Hatteras Island.

It's a place without outlet malls or miniature golf courses. It's a place where the beach remains unblemished. You won't find 5000 square foot homes towering over the dunes. In fact, you won't find any homes at all within a half mile of the beach. It's the North Carolina coast the way it was 100 years ago.

We spent a week there with Stephanie's parents, and I'd go back again in a heartbeat.

From the picture album: McClure Pass

I took this picture in May, 2006 during an anniversary trip to Aspen, CO. We were driving back to Aspen on CO state highway 133 after a day trip to Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park. The picture was taken from approximately 8800 feet above sea level.

Like most of my older shots, this photo was taken with my old camera, an Olympus C-3000 Zoom.

From the picture album: Yosemite Valley

This is a picture I took in 2005 in Yosemite National Park. I took the shot with my old camera, an Olympus C-3000 Zoom.

Yosemite Valley is probably the most beautiful place I've ever been. After visiting, my wife and I joked that we were no longer quite so impressed with Ansel Adams. The park is so stunning that even a below average photographer like me can take a few jaw droppers.

The granite monolith on the left is El Capitan. Further down the valley, you can also see Half Dome. Yosemite is a must visit for those who love natural beauty. We visited in the fall. It meant sunny blue skies every day, but it came with the tradeoff of trickling (as opposed to roaring) water falls. Given that there are also fewer visitors in the autumn, I think it's a great time of year to visit.

Jordan Lake

On Monday night, we had a decent sunset in central North Carolina. I've been wanting to get a shot of the sun going down over nearby Jordan Lake, so I convinced my wife to let me snap a few shots on the way home from some appliance shopping.

By the time we got to the section of the lake where I wanted to take the picture, the sun had already fallen below the trees. Ideally, I would've gone down to the water and taken the shot from there, but I didn't have a lot of time, so I just snapped 12 shots from the bridge. This one was my favorite.

Unfortunately, the proximity to several airports probably means that I'm never going to get a clean cloud shot around Chapel Hill. Plane exhaust is pretty much a given.

In the future, I'd like to get a wide angle lens and repeat the shot, in order to see if I can get a bit more curvature to the image.

Welcome

The blog is intended to provide an avenue for me to share my joy of digital photography.

But before we get to the pictures, let's make sure we're clear on a few points. First, I'm not a good digital photographer. And second, most of the time, I'm okay with that.

I like taking digital pictures, and because low probability events sometimes happen given a large enough sample size, on occasion, I actually take a decent shot.

This blog provides me a venue for sharing those rare decent shots, and even better, it provides the infrastructure for receiving feedback.

I call it "lucky shots", because I'm not much more than a point and shoot photographer. Most of the shots were taken with my Kodak EasyShare P712 digital camera, although some of the older shots may have been taken utilizing an Olympus C-3000 Zoom model.

Welcome and enjoy.